A/N: Hey everyone. Thanks for the reviews on the prologue for Nameless Star. I promise that I am still working on that story and hopefully I will have chapter 1 finished soon. Meanwhile, I have been given a few different prompts to try and improve my writing skills, the first one being 'flowers'. I really hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. So without further ado, I present you "A Rose by Any Other Name".
Beryl and Stella are OC's owned by me
Rose and Layla are OC's owned by Magi Mana.
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs.
"Whew... Almost done." Layla had been working on a painting for art class for the past week and was just about done with it. She wore a white shirt, now splattered with paint, over a red skirt and black stockings. There were also paint flecks in her magenta streaked black hair and blonde bangs. Thankfully, she had taken off her gold and red lined white blazer before painting.
In truth, she had been dedicating her time to her art this past week since someone in her class entered her into a student art contest without telling her. If not for her best friend, Rose, she wouldn't have even known her art would be on display at the school the following week.
As she was painting, the door creaked open. She paused and looked over to see a black-haired student wearing a black polo with red trim on the sleeves over a red pleated skirt. She recognized the student as Stella, her best friends adoptive brother who chose to attend school as a girl. She had found that fact odd at first, but grew to accept his choice.
"Hey, Layla," greeted Stella. "I hope I didn't break your concentration."
"Don't worry about it," she replied. "It's important to take a break every so often, so it's fi–" She cut off abruptly, her amethyst eyes widening as she set her brush down.
"Something wrong?" inquired Stella.
"I ordered some flowers from New Domino's Flower Garden to use as a reference for my art project. I was supposed to pick them up today, but I completely forgot."
"Do you want me to pick them up for you?"
"Are you fine with that?"
"Don't worry about it. It's not too far from here, and I'm free at the moment. Anyway, isn't that what friends are for?"
"Hmm. I'd appreciate it if you did... but I can take care of it later when I finish up here and I wouldn't want you to worry about missing out on such a gorgeous day outside just to go pick up flowers for me–"
"So, all I have to do is mention your name and the flowers you ordered and bring them back here, right?" he interrupted her.
She took a breathe. "Y-yeah. They're already paid for, so you don't have to worry about that. You'll be picking up snow lilies."
"Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can," he turned away and left the classroom before she could say anything more.
As he was leaving the school grounds, he heard someone shouting his name from the entrance of the school gate. He turned around to see a brown haired girl in a short sleeved black dress, her crescent moon pendant shimmering in the sunlight.
"Phew! I'm so glad I caught up with you in time.
"Hey Beryl, what's up?"
"Layla asked me to see if you could pick up another flower. It's called a Grand Rose. It's a bright red flower, so you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. She said she only needed one, and that this should cover it," Beryl handed Stella the money for the rose.
"No problem. Was there anything else?"
"Nope. Well, I'm going to go back to working on my project." She gave a small curtsy before heading back.
As Stella arrived at the flower garden, he took a minute to breathe in the sweet aroma. This sanctuary, which had sprouted as a wedding gift from Akiza to Yusei, was now in full bloom. The garden was comprised of smaller gardens, dedicated to different kinds of plants. In the central atrium, there was a well-tended rose garden. He sometimes came here with Rose to hang out and walk around.
Walking inside, he immediately headed over to the florist to pick up the flowers for Layla's art project.
"Good afternoon, Stella," the florist said in greeting.
"Afternoon," he replied.
"As you are not here with Rose, I assume you're here to pick up flowers for your mom?"
"Yes, but not for my mom. I'm here to pick up some snow lilies for Layla."
Nodding, she headed to the back to retrieve the order. A few moments later, she returned with a bouquet of white petaled flowers with yellow pistils.
"Thanks." He took the flowers from her. "I was also hoping to buy another flower. You wouldn't happen to have any Grand Roses would you?"
Giggling, she once again nodded and headed to the back to retrieve the rose. Returning for the second time, she handed him the brightly colored flower as he paid for it.
"Ahh, to be young and passionate again," the florist put one hand on her cheek as she tilted her head in thought.
"Hmm? Am I missing something?" He tilted his head in confusion.
"Hehe. I'm sorry. Will that be all?"
"Y-yeah."
"Alright. Hope to see you again, and best of luck."
"T-thanks," he quickly left back for the school, feeling that he missed something.
Stella walked back into the classroom. Layla was still painting with her oils and didn't hear him walk up. She gasped when she saw him watching her.
"OH! Y-your back!"
"Yep," he handed her the snow lilies.
"Thank you so much!" She happily took them, taking a whiff of the sweet aroma and placing them on a nearby table.
"And here's the other flower you asked for," He held out the Grand Rose.
"This... This... Y-you can't just give a girl something like this out of nowhere...!" her face turned as red as the flower she took from him.
"Uh... I have no idea what you're talking about... Didn't you ask me to get this for you?"
"I... This flower... only means... you want to..."
"Yeeaah, still not following..."
They both heard stifled laughter coming from outside the classroom. Standing in the doorway were Beryl and a girl with long red hair wearing black shorts and a maroon top.
"Aww, that was just getting good too!" the red-headed girl tried to get her laughter under control.
"Rose? What's going on here?" asked Stella.
"Sorry, but when I overheard that you were going to help out Layla, I took advantage of you to prank her back. I asked Beryl to run down and give you the message and to say that it was from Layla," snickered Rose.
"Which one?" Layla crossed her arms, glaring at Rose.
"When I thought you handed me that book I had been looking forward to reading, but you decided to swap the covers of that book with the cover of "Impractical Gift Wrap."
"Well, that was revenge for taping my shoes to the ceiling."
"Which I only did after-"
"So, to recap," cut in Stella. "Layla did NOT ask me to buy the Grand Rose, and you took advantage of me." He turned his full attention to his sister.
"Yeaa. I was just taking advantage of the situation."
"Anyway, what's the big deal with the Grand Rose?" asked Stella.
"It represents passionate romance," Beryl chimed in. "Lots of people use it as a way to confess their love to one another.
"True," Layla said, "so you can see why I was taken aback."
"Hehe. You've got some explaining to do, brother. How do you not know about the Grand Rose? Our mom is the one who bred it. But since you were unfamiliar with it, that meant my prank went off without a hitch, I'll let it go."
"Gee, thanks, sis...though..." grinning, he walked out of the classroom, thinking of how he was going to prank her back.
The three girls looked at each other, unsure of what he was planning.
A/N: Thanks for reading. Please don't forget to review and let me know what you all thought.
Congratulations to anyone who recognized what I used as my source material. If ya know, ya know.
Special shout-out to Magi Mana for proofreading this for me.